"Huh?"
At that moment, Aiura Mikoto, who was watching the match from the side, suddenly showed a look of horror on her face.
Because in that instant, she had seen the "death aura" on the faces of all the students participating in the tug-of-war except for Saiki.
Fortunately, the death aura disappeared almost immediately.
[Was I seeing things? Or was it something else?]
'This is bad...'
Saiki's face, which had been expressionless, now showed a hint of panic as his eyes widened slightly.
Distracted by the activation of his Psychometry, Saiki had momentarily lost control of his strength, and the force from his hands had actually snapped the rope—
But luckily, no one seemed to have noticed!
'Yare yare, that was close...'
At that moment, Saiki pressed his hands together, holding the broken ends of the rope between them, and subtly applied force in opposite directions to hide the break.
'Good thing no one seems to have noticed yet... If the rope broke at my position, it would be a huge problem... A rope this thick isn't something an ordinary person could snap...'
Sweat had already formed on Saiki's forehead. He had almost caused a much bigger problem.
If he hadn't regained control of his strength in time, Saiki's power alone might have sent both teams flying like boogers flicked off a finger—but thankfully, that didn't happen.
"What's going on? Why can't we move?"
The same question popped into the minds of both teams.
Because, in essence, they were all pitted against Saiki alone—even if their numbers were ten times greater, they couldn't possibly overpower him.
[Huh?]
Further away, Horikita Manabu had been intently watching the tug-of-war match.
[Originally, the White Team was in the lead, and based on that trend, the Red Team was bound to lose—but now the situation has suddenly reached a stalemate.]
[Perhaps no one has noticed why, but I have. It's because of the earlier pole-toppling competition that I became aware of your existence, Saiki.]
[At first, you weren't exerting any effort, as I could tell from your expression. But I noticed the change in your expression just now. You've started to take this seriously, and after you began exerting force, the entire dynamic of the tug-of-war changed—from not using any strength at first to now exerting it. For you, it's easy to manipulate the outcome of this match, isn't it? Interesting. I've got my eye on you now, Saiki.]
Horikita Manabu smiled, adjusting his glasses. His sharp gaze pierced through the lenses, fixed firmly on Saiki.
Meanwhile, Saiki, at the center of the tug-of-war chaos, had no time to notice Horikita Manabu's attention. He was entirely focused on the rope in his hands.
'The rope's broken. I need to use my restoration ability... But since the rope is broken, I need to bring the two ends together first...'
Saiki thought to himself. Because the rope had snapped, there was a small gap between the two broken ends in his hands.
'I'll just apply a bit of force to bring the ends together. That'll make it easier to use my restoration ability.'
As he thought this, Saiki carefully controlled the amount of force he applied.
At the same time, on the other side of the rope, Ryuen Kakeru's face showed a look of confusion.
[What's going on? I even changed up the team and used some 'motivational' language, but we still couldn't secure a win?]
[We were clearly in the lead earlier. Why couldn't we push through and win?]
[Could it be... that the other side was holding back too? In that case, we shouldn't waste too much energy here. Let's give up this round. After all, the tug-of-war is a best-of-three match.]
Before the match had even started, Ryuen Kakeru had already devised a strategy for his class. If necessary, he would order his classmates to suddenly let go of the rope.
In the heat of the tug-of-war, if his class suddenly let go, the Red Team, who were presumably using all their strength, would lose their balance and fall to the ground—not only would their stamina be drained, but it might also provoke their emotions.
If it were someone like Sudo Ken, he might even lose his temper and start a fight, which would result in their team being disqualified.
This was Ryuen Kakeru's plan. No matter the event, he had already thought of a countermeasure.
[Let's do it.]
Ryuen Kakeru thought to himself, preparing to give the signal for his team to let go—
But at that moment, the rope in his hands suddenly erupted with a terrifying force, yanking him forward.
Not just Ryuen Kakeru, but the entire White Team was suddenly pulled forward.
This was Saiki's doing.
Although it only lasted for a moment, it successfully disrupted the White Team's rhythm, causing many of them to lose their balance and fall to the ground—including Ryuen Kakeru.
The balance between the two teams was instantly broken.
"First round goes to the Red Team!"
The referee blew the whistle, signaling the end of the first round.
"Tch, is that all?"
"Wow, we're really strong!"
"Looks like the gap between us is huge!"
The Red Team students cheered, and Saiki finally relaxed, letting go of the rope—the broken part had been completely restored, looking as if nothing had happened.
'Yare yare, that was dangerous...'
Saiki let out a long sigh of relief.
'Even though I lost control of my strength at the end, it's a team event, so no one noticed anything unusual, right?'
Saiki glanced around, quickly assessing the mental states of those around him. Almost no one had noticed anything amiss—except for Ryuen Kakeru.
[How is this possible... Why did the Red Team suddenly unleash so much strength?]
'This is bad... Did Ryuen notice something? He shouldn't suspect me, right?'
[Could it be...]
Although Saiki thought Ryuen Kakeru wouldn't suspect him, he still felt a bit nervous.
[Could it be... that the Red Team saw through our strategy and was holding back all along? Their overall strength was always superior to ours, but they pretended to be evenly matched to drain our stamina!]
'Well done, as expected of you.'
Hearing Ryuen Kakeru's thoughts, Saiki let out a sigh of relief. His dislike for Ryuen Kakeru lessened, and he even felt a bit of gratitude.
Thanks to Ryuen Kakeru, Saiki had avoided a lot of trouble.
"We're forfeiting this round."
During the short break between rounds, Ryuen Kakeru announced to his class.
"Huh? Why?"
Ishizaki Daichi, one of Ryuen Kakeru's most loyal followers, looked utterly confused. He thought they had narrowly lost and were close to winning.
"Idiot, haven't you realized? We've fallen into the Red Team's trap."
Ryuen Kakeru frowned as he spoke.
"Huh?"
Ishizaki Daichi was completely lost.
"Their strength far surpasses ours. The earlier stalemate and their apparent weakness were just an act to make us think we could win, draining our stamina. Now, we're even less likely to win the second round. Not to mention, some of us still have other events to participate in. We can't afford to waste too much energy here!"
Ryuen Kakeru explained seriously.
"I see! As expected of Ryuen! You saw through their plan!"
Ishizaki Daichi responded with awe.
"I underestimated our opponents... It seems this sports festival might end in failure for us..."
Ryuen Kakeru shook his head, then informed the referee that Class D would forfeit the second round of the tug-of-war.
"Forfeit? What are you doing?!"
Kanzaki Ryuji from Class C was completely baffled by Ryuen Kakeru's unilateral decision to forfeit. If Class D quit, Class C couldn't face two classes alone, effectively handing the victory to the Red Team.
The students from Classes A and B were equally confused.
"Ryuen and Class D forfeited? What are they planning?"
"Did they just give up?"
"It feels like Ryuen is plotting something."
Ignoring Class C's dissatisfaction, Ryuen Kakeru walked away—
But at that moment, his phone vibrated slightly. He had received a message from Kushida Kikyo.
Kushida Kikyo: Yamauchi Haruki is indeed likely the mastermind behind all this.
Kushida Kikyo: After I met with you earlier, I ran into him at the entrance.
Kushida Kikyo: He used the restroom as an excuse, but that wasn't the direction of the restroom. He was probably following me.
"So it's true."
Ryuen Kakeru's lips curled into a slight smile.
"But overall, we've gained something from this sports festival. We can settle this score later. First, I need to confirm one thing."
Ryuen Kakeru quickly led Ishizaki Daichi to the girls' rest area, where Manabe Shiho was warming up. She had an event coming up.
"Ryuen... what are you doing here?"
Manabe Shiho frowned, glaring at Ryuen Kakeru.
Although Ryuen Kakeru controlled Class D, many in the class disliked him, and Manabe Shiho was one of them.
"Manabe, you've been hiding something from me, haven't you?"
Ryuen Kakeru grinned, showing a wolf-like smile.
"What are you talking about?"
Manabe Shiho tried to act clueless, but the momentary panic on her face betrayed her true feelings.
"There's a traitor in our class—and I think it might be you. So, I want to check your phone to confirm."
Ryuen Kakeru narrowed his eyes.
"If you confess, I might forgive you."
Ryuen Kakeru's smile remained, but there was a hint of menace in his words.
He wanted to know why Manabe Shiho had betrayed him.
"I..."
Manabe Shiho hesitated, but seeing Ishizaki Daichi and others behind Ryuen Kakeru, she had no choice but to hand over her phone.
She knew lying at this point was pointless.
Ryuen Kakeru scrolled through Manabe Shiho's messages, noticing an unknown contact named "X." What puzzled Ryuen was that "X" seemed to have used two different anonymous accounts.
The first account had sent Manabe Shiho a video from the cruise ship, showing her about to bully Karuizawa Kei. However, at the end of the video, Saiki appeared, stopping the act.
[So this is why Manabe was blackmailed. If this video were sent to the teachers, it would be a serious matter—but this also proves that Saiki isn't "X," since he appeared in the video.]
The second account had instructed Manabe Shiho to do various things, including buying pudding and following Ryuen Kakeru to record him.
However, Ryuen Kakeru had already noticed Manabe Shiho's odd behavior and had been cautious, not giving her the chance to record him.
[So, using Manabe to spy on me, huh?]
[But it's strange. Why use two different anonymous accounts...]
[Could "X" actually be two people? No... he's showing off his abilities, isn't he? Based on his actions, this guy is arrogant and overconfident. He's probably flaunting his skills, showing us how easily he can hide his identity.]
[But it's your arrogance that will lead to your downfall. I've already caught your trail, Yamauchi Haruki!]
Ryuen Kakeru's gaze sharpened.
[I've already uncovered your identity.]
[You've done well to disguise yourself to this extent, but unfortunately, your opponent is me. I'll tear you apart—]
[But before that, I need more information about Yamauchi—starting with the people around him.]
Ryuen Kakeru's eyes focused on Manabe Shiho's phone screen, replaying the video.
Saiki's appearance at the end.
[By having Saiki appear at the end, along with your previous actions, he's just a pawn you're using to cover your tracks. Perhaps I can use him to gather more information about you.]
At that moment, Ryuen Kakeru was like a hunter who had found his prey. He turned to Ishizaki Daichi and said:
"After the sports festival, let's pay this guy a visit."